The purpose of this blog is to provide families with precise, up-to-date
information on all of America World Adoption’s programs, helpful
resources and adoption stories. We pray that you are encouraged
by seeing God working in families through the Spirit of Adoption.

January 2011

January 28, 2011

Probably one of the biggest concerns for most families considering adoption is the cost. Unfortunately, many families stop short of pursuing adoption because they do not realize the assistance that is available to lighten the financial burden. Aside from fundraising and grants, the government has made available the Adoption Tax Credit which has been a great blessing to many families over the years.

January 27, 2011

Empowered to Connect is a great website resource for adoptive families. Recently they posted an audio presentation entitled “Adoption from the Inside Out”. This presentation is focused at adoptive and foster parents and encourages parents to assess their pasts as well as looking forward to assess their motivations and expectations towards the adoption or foster process. In doing this parents can learn to be “fully present” with their child(ren) and enable healing and growth in their family.

To listen to the presentation please click here. You can also follow along with the slides and handouts for this presentation.

January 26, 2011

The Federal Government has just announced an early closing for all of its employees due to the impending snow storm in the Washington, DC area. As America World's corporate office follows the Federal Government's weather-related closings, we will be closing our office at 3 PM ET today, Wednesday, January 26th.

If the Federal Government remains closed tomorrow, Thursday, January 27th, due to tonight's storm, America World employees will work from home during normal business hours to the best of their abilities.

January 24, 2011

We are deeply saddened by the events that took place today in a major Moscow airport and our prayers are with the victims and their families. We are thankful to report that no AWAA families were present at the airport when the explosion occurred. We request prayer for families who will be traveling to Russia in the near future as they will certainly experience an additional level of anxiety as they enter the country. Any families who are currently in an adoption process from Russia and who have questions or concerns may contact their family coordinator for further information.

January 21, 2011

The Ethiopia program is excited to start out 2011 with 8 referrals so far! Find below the list of these children and the DTE dates of the families. Please keep in mind some of these referrals may be sibling sets, children with special needs, or waiting children.

Age and Gender of Child

DTE Date

1 Male Infant

7/23/2010

1 Male Toddler

9/24/2010

2 Female Toddlers

5/21/2010

9/10/2010

2 Males 5 years or older

5/21/2010

12/10/2010

2 Females 5 years or older

5/21/2010

12/10/2010

Due to the recent trends of received referrals the wait time for an infant male has increased to 5-8 months, while the wait time for a female infant remains the same at 7-11 months. This trend is based on recent history, but is subject to change.

We are eager to see what the Lord has in store for the Ethiopia program during 2011! Please keep the Ethiopia program in your prayers as we send children home with their forever families and bring more children into our transition homes.

January 20, 2011

Welcoming Angels needs one additional host family for the Spring 2011 program being held in the Maryland/Pennsylvania surrounding area of Baltimore. The deadline for completing the free pre-application to host a child from Ethiopia is Friday, January 28, 2011. In addition, we need families to step forward and host the chaperone who will be escorting the children here in April/May 2011. If your family is interested please contact Mary Noble, Welcoming Angels Hosting Director, at mary.noble@awaa.org for more information.

America World would like to welcome home our most recent Ethiopia travel groups. Pictured are some of the families who traveled in December and early January to bring their children from Ethiopia. Please join us in welcoming these families home and praying for their first weeks at home with their children.

January 19, 2011

My husband and I got engaged in 1999 and got married later that year. During our engagement we started discussing how we would like our future to look including how many children we wanted in our family. During the course of that conversation we naively and tacitly agreed we would have two kiddos---one biological and one adopted.

In 2002, we decided to get serious about starting a family. Since we figured it would be “easiest” we went about the conventional route of “making a family.” Two years later--after one miscarriage and a full six months of clomid we still weren’t pregnant. I encountered a book called “Adoption after Infertility.” Through this book I was able to start processing the loss of having a biological child. The Lord held my hand during this very low point and showed me that He had a plan for my family that I couldn’t even imagine. One month later, after many tears I was pregnant. Our son was born on Easter Day in 2005.

About the time our son turned 18 months we discussed enlarging our family. After prayer and discussion we decided to stick with our original plan of adding to our family via adoption. After attending an adoption conference and talking to a host of families who had adopted we decided to adopt from China. From the beginning of the process I felt most comfortable adopting a child who was 18 months or younger. However, Jeremy (my husband) was comfortable adopting a much older child. We submitted our application to America World in June of 2007 for a healthy baby 18 months or younger.

As the wait for an infant became longer and my son was becoming older we felt the Lord prompt us to join the Waiting Child program. We submitted our application for a child 2 and under and continued to wait. The waiting wasn’t as hard for us as I imagine it was for many who are awaiting the opportunity to be first-time parents but the Lord was showing me in particular that our family would be different than I originally envisioned. After much prayer and soul searching we changed our waiting child application to a child 8 and under. My husband and I have always made decisions based on if we are “like minded.” We joke that Jeremy often comes around to my way of thinking but this time the Lord brought me around to his idea—we were now both open to adopting an older child.

After changing our paperwork we received a call from America World the next day asking us if we were interested in looking at a referral for a 7 year old girl on the waiting child list. Jeremy never one to make a rash decision looked at the picture and said that’s “our girl.” I nervously agreed!

We traveled to bring our daughter home in late summer of 2009. While in China we realized that our girl was born about the time we started trying to add to our family in 2002. The Lord had answered our prayers in 2002 in ways that would couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Lillian BeiBei has been home for almost a year and a half. We believe that the Lord guided us to our daughter. She has been a perfect addition to our family and it is hard to remember what life was like before she came home.

The Lord not only provided a wonderful daughter for us but the experience has made us all better people. The decision to adopt an older child should not be taken lightly but with God’s guidance it could be just what your family needs. It was certainly true in our case.

I’m happy to share that progress is being made for the Spring pilot program being held in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Since last week a few families have stepped forward with an interest in hosting! There is still a need for 2- 3 additional host families from the Baltimore MD/York PA area. Please contact Mary Noble, Hosting Director, at mary.noble@awaa.org for more information.

In addition, we are now recruiting host families and looking for church partners for the summer hosting program scheduled for July 2011 in Maryland and Pennsylvania. With that in mind, I will be sharing about Welcoming Angels at churches in both states in the upcoming weeks. Follow this link to our events page for more information. As always, thank you for your ongoing prayers and encouragement for this new ministry serving older orphans.